The Dublin journalist Terry Keane is selling her Ranelagh home next month after which she intends to auction most of the contents of the two-storey over-basement period house.
She was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and has successfully undergone surgery. She says that her doctors have now given her a clean bill of health and that the house move is a sign that she is "embracing change".
Last year she bought a house in Montpelier in France and now intends downsizing to a smaller property, which she says will be in Dublin so that she can be close to her children and grandchildren. Up until December of last year she wrote regularly for The Sunday Times and she intends to resume writing for that newspaper now that she has recovered.
The house at 62 Ranelagh Road will be auctioned on June 7th by Robin Palmer of Gunne Residential, who is guiding £750,000 (€952,000).
Terry bought the handsome-looking house 13 years ago and it benefits in size and style from being the end house in the terrace, which was built in the mid-19th century. She has created a very welcoming and warm ambience and there are books everywhere, art on all walls and classic pieces of furniture throughout.
The front door opens into an impressive hallway which is lined with bookshelves to create a walk-through library. At the end of the hall is a conservatory which is used as a home office. It opens directly on to a wrap-around deck and from there is access down to the garden.
The gardens are one of this house's major delights. Terry allowed her son-inlaw, Diarmuid Gavin, to try out his then amateur landscaping ideas on them. Five years later he has gone on to become one of the country's best known gardeners because of his TV programmes and the gardens at Ranelagh Road have matured and grown as intended. The back and side are a striking mix of box hedge formality and lush greenery while the front is planted in a delicate looking cottage style. He added the now highly fashionable railway-sleeper deck around the conservatory, which has become a place for al fresco entertaining.
The previous owners had extensively renovated the house and Terry made some changes when she moved in, most notably knocking down the wall between the livingroom and the diningroom. This is now a large and very bright L-shaped room with two windows to the front of the house and one to the back. It is painted in a soft yellow and features period wooden mantels with tiled insets.
Upstairs there are two bedrooms, the main bedroom to the front, the other to the back. Both are large doubles and the front has an attractive white marble fireplace and a wall of built-in wardrobes.
The previous owner converted a single bedroom at the front of the house into a large and very bright bathroom.
Houses like these tend to be highly flexible in their layout and this house is currently a four-bedroom property with the two other bedrooms being at garden level. There is a small single in the return and a large double bedroom at the back of the house.
The country-style kitchen with its green painted units and original terracotta floor is to the front. The back of the house is particularly private because of the high granite walls, the mature trees and the inventive planting. There is parking for four cars in a gravelled area to the side of the house.
